and Randolph, deputy United States marshals, also appeared Two days following the arrest of Renfro and Bullock, Fred. Chiles, a citizen of this county, was arrested while peaceably employed at his daily labor. He was handcuffed without delay and placed in a dungeon in the jail, and refused permission to see his counsel or friends. His humane captors stated to him that he was arrested on a charge of participating in the murder of Ivey, but showed him no warrant or other authority for arrest. Since then it has been discovered that the affidavit for the warrant and the warrant itself bear date the same day of his arrest, and purports to have been issued by James Gillette, in Mobile, about 150 miles distant from the place of arrest. Mr. Chiles was also chained and handcuffed and taken by way of Selma and Montgomery to Mobile, where he was confined in the jail for several days, and then, there being no evidence against him, he was discharged on bail in Mobile without any examination. On their way to Mobile with Renfro, Bullock and Chiles, . . Williford and Randolph, meeting with P. A. Hillman, on the public road between his place and Demopolis, arrested him without any warrant or authority, and also handcuffed and chained him, and took him to Mobile and imprisoned him in jail. There being no warrant or charge against him he was at first ordered by Gillette to be discharged, but upon the sugges tion of the acting United States district attorney, that possibly he might be guilty of some violation of the law, and some evidence against him might turn up, he was, as we learn, ultimately discharged on bail to answer an indictment which might be found against him for committing an assault and battery on any negro. On Saturday, the 17th instant, Thomas B. Wetmore and Stephen Smith, white, and John Little, colored democrat, were arrested at the instance of Hester upon a warrant procured by him to be issued by commissioner Wayne, and charging them with a conspiracy to injure Hester. This warrant was made returnable before Gillette, although the parties and witnesses resided in this county. Yesterday they were taken to Mobile for trial. Federal Interference under the Enforcement Laws Nordhoff, The Cotton States, p. 13. [1875] THE great mass of the Southern colored voters are illiterate; they are easily impressed by exhibitions of power. . . The Republican leader has always had the United States Government to back him. Packard, chairman of the Republican State Executive Committee of Louisiana, has, as United States marshal, the absolute control of Federal troops in Louisiana. . . Governor Ames, as is publicly charged, refuses to stir to prevent a riot at Vicksburg; but after the riot, after forty or fifty blacks have been killed, and when the negroes are demoralized and feel utterly helpless, sends for Federal troops, which come at his command, and reassure the blacks. Such manifestations of power strike the imaginations of the negroes, as they would any ignorant population, and they follow very readily and blindly, its possessor. Some colored witnesses in Alabama being asked why they voted against Sheats, a Republican, for Congress, replied, "because Perrin told them to;" being asked if they would have voted the Democratic ticket if Perrin had told them to, they answered, unhesitatingly, "Yes." But Perrin, as United States deputy-marshal, commanded Federal troops, and gave away Federal bacon. The leaders whom they thus follow appeal only and continually to the negro's fears and to his sense of obligation to the Federal power. In Alabama they were told that the bacon was sent them by General Grant, and its receipt made it their duty to vote the "straight Republican ticket." In some parts of Southern Louisiana the negroes are still summoned from the field to political meetings, "by order of General Butler." I know of a case where a candidate for a county office printed a "general order" commanding all colored men to vote for him, and signed "U. S. Grant, President;" and he received the solid colored vote. . So pertinaciously has this base insinuation been used among the blacks, that when last fall the Democrats carried Alabama, I know of two instances in which colored men came into the nearest town to ask white Democrats, in whose honor and kindness they had trusted, whether they would be allowed to choose their own masters, and whether they would be separated from their wives and children. The Federal office-holders are largely to blame for the continuance of this evil. They are a very numerous class in every Southern State; and have far greater influence than their fellows in the Northern States, especially over the blacks, who have been taught to regard them as their guardians, and political guides and leaders. They are too often, . They are too often, . . men of low . character, Republicans by trade, and of no influence except among the negroes, to whom the lowest Federal officer, even a deputy-marshal's deputy, is a very powerful being, armed with the whole strength of the Federal Government. Georgia has nearly. three thousand men in the employ of the Federal Government, in various capacities; and most of the States I have visited have an equal number. In such States as Louisiana these men "organize" the negro vote; and they do it as the only means to preserve their places. A Democratic Federal administration would oust them. . . The Federal Administration appears to me culpable in this matter, because it has not only permitted its officers in the South to take an active and partisan part in politics, but has apparently encouraged them in doing so. The United States marshal [Packard] of Louisiana, for instance, having the command at will of Federal troops, has been chairman of the Republican State Central Committee. 7. THE WASHINGTON ADMINISTRATION AND THE DUAL GOVERNMENTS: AND ARKANSAS LOUISIANA Division among the Louisiana Radicals House Ex. Doc. no. 209, 42 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 3, 10. Warmoth, Radical [January 9, 1872] For the last three days peace has been maintained solely by the display of the United States troops, and a contest for the State-house is at this moment only averted by my placing troops near that point, with definite orders to prevent riot. The difficulties between the contending parties are as far from a solution as ever, and the members representing the two factions in both houses are so nearly equal and so bitter that the collision, if it be allowed to come on, must be a very disastrous one. The facts are not sufficiently apparent to justify me in committing the Government to either side. Tonight the [Radical] militia have substantially refused to act for the governor [Warmoth], and he is making use of the fact that the United States troops are now at the building, and have, at his request, been there before, as an evidence that the President has decided that his legislature is the legitimate one. It is impossible that this state of things can be continued. . . I therefore respectfully suggest that I should be instructed to declare martial law... [January 13, 1872]. The end of this disturbance cannot be said to have been reached, for the State authorities here are so distasteful to all parties, republicans and democrats, black and white, that, unless some new turn is given to affairs, we must have a continuation of the scenes of the last few days, and I therefore urgently request that two companies of cavalry may be sent me... |